The Lotus River grandma who turned 101 last month is now having her house renovated by the 24-year-old man who “adopted” her.
Max Swartz says this is all part of his Mother’s Day gift to Emma Ligwa, whom he met last year just days after her 100th birthday.
“If we didn’t encounter problems, we would have finished today and she would enjoy her Mother’s Day gift in a pimped-out home,” Max says.
“We have some furniture, but now we have to fix everything else so we can move it in.
“We are just trying to make her space of living a little bit more comfortable for the remaining years she has.
“We have started pimping her house up and we started taking out heaps of clothes that she had in her bedroom and we found there are many more problems than anticipated.
“This means we will have to buy a lot more than planned.”
The 24-year-old, who runs the Parkwood Community Upliftment Centre, started the work on Saturday with FreshCoat Community Upliftment project.
“And after removing almost everything out of her bedroom, we discovered that there was grass growing inside the house and that means we have to seal the cracks in the foundation of the house,” he said.
Ouma Emma says: “This is really great and it makes me happy. I’m grateful for what they are doing for me.”
On Saturday Max and his friends took the centenarian out for a scenic drive and lunch.
“She was like a child, she was never in a car for a long period and she was never out of her home for long,” he says.
“I asked her what she wanted to drink, she said she wanted to have sugar water, like back in the days when she was still a child.”
Max says he didn’t really want to go to Emma’s house because it was his first Mother’s Day without his mom and he was afraid he’d get sad.
“She has taken my mom’s place and I thought avoiding her would be a good thing, but it did the opposite.
“When we went out we bought her gifts, she loves cake and chocolates and we also gave her a fruit basket.”